Motorway aires are
designed to provide a suitable environment for relaxing, refreshing
and recovering during the long, hard journeys. As well as facilities
of often dubious nature, picnic tables and seats, a telephone
kiosk, there are often optional extras such as a play area or
a display related to some local interest or event.

The aire
of Mas d’Agenais, near Agen on the A62 autoroute, is a large,
relatively quiet aire comprising a large open, grassed area, with
literally cooling showers, and a wooded area. Under the trees
and elsewhere are varnished picnic tables with seats. In summer,
some of these are in deep shade, but flying insects can be a problem
in some seasons and some times of day. As a feature, there is
also a palombière - an area for dove raising and
housing. [Report applies to the northbound aire.] However, this
was closed when we visited and it was not clear when it might
be open for visitors. This aire has no café, petrol station
or shop.

In the southern, hotter regions
of France, there are often what the motorway company calls “refreshing
showers”. Outside the hot season, the water is turned off
and the showers are bleak metal sticks. But come the blasting
summer heat, le canicule [2], the
showers work - press the button to set off a mist of cooling,
invigorating water. (Because of the heat, damp clothes are no
problem.)

"Refreshing shower" at
the Mas d'Agenais aire, A62

Aires
have picnic areas with tables, benches and waste bins. At Mas
d’Agenais, these are placed under the shade of a deciduous
wood.

Picnic tables nestled under the shade
of the woods

Aires often offer
an inventive solution to an everyday item. Here, a relaxing chair
becomes a sculpted sine wave. Remarkably comfortable for a lump
of shaped concrete.

Concrete lounging chair in the shade

The
Mas d’Agenais aire reviewed on this page is only accessible
from the northbound direction of the A62 autoroute. There is also
a twin large aire on the southbound side of the autoroute, but
without the spray-mist showers and the (likely closed) palombière
[abelard.org has not yet visited Mas d’Agenais Sud].

The
Mas d’Agenais aire is in Département 47.

end notes

aire:
in this context, an area —aire de loisirs:
recreation area; aire de pique-nique: picnic area;
aire de repos: rest area; aire de services:
services , motorway (GB) or freeway (US) service station.

canicule: heatwave. Very hot
weather generally arises when the
star Sirius, the dog star, is visible in the sky during the
day. Canicule is derived from the Latin for dog, canis.
In English, there is a similar reference with “the dog days
of summer”. Depending on the year (and on the source of
information), the canicule period can extend from 22 July to 22
August, or 24 July to 26 August.

This period corresponds
to maximum heat in the Northern Hemisphere because of atmospheric
inertia. After heating the atmosphere since its zenith on 21 June
(the Summer Solstice), the sun begins its slow descent, but the
air still maintain that heat despite the reduction in the duration
of the day, the atmosphere retaining the heat like a giant storage
heater. So from late July to late August is statistically a period
of intense heat, but not necessarily a canicule in the meteorological
sense of the word.